Last week, 63-year-old Yutong Zhang, a physician from Berwyn, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his operation of what was a "pill mill" rather than a legitimate medical practice.
The term "pill mill," popularized during the opioid crisis, refers to any facility that ostensibly is a legitimate clinic with accredited doctors that consistently supplies addictive painkillers without adequate checks on medical history, examination or diagnosis, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania reported in a release.
"As a physician, he was well aware of the inherently dangerous nature of the drugs he was selling. But because of his greed, he took advantage of vulnerable people struggling with addiction, piling on to the enormous opioid epidemic ravaging the communities in our District," said U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams.
Zhang pleaded guilty to four counts of distributing oxycodone-containing medications that weren't for medical purposes from his St. Davids, Pennsylvania, practice, the attorney's office reported. From 2016 to 2020, Zhang sold unnecessary prescriptions for oxycodone and other drugs to about 120 "patients." Zhang would not run diagnostics tests before selling the drugs.
"Medical practitioners are trusted to care for our health needs," said Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire. "When they exploit their position and betray their license to line their own pockets, they not only corrupt the system, they contribute to the very epidemic we are trying so hard to fight. This defendant's actions were akin to those of a drug dealer; the only difference is, he peddled his poison from an office instead of a street corner."
Illegal drugs are responsible for killing 14 Pennsylvanians every day, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.
